The Emerald Snake
by plaidmonster
Summary: what if tom riddle had a soft side? /T for language, literacy and some moderate romance.
1. Through These Years

**Hi guys! It's Plaid/Monster here, with my first fic chapter published (finally! ^^). It might be a little slow-going in the first one or two chapters, but I assure you it'll get better.**

**Disclaimer: I am NOT by any means claiming these characters; they belong to Jo Rowling and I give her full credit for creating them. Thank you J.K.R. for your wonderful characters!**

**I AM, however, claiming to own the following text, so you cannot copy it in any means. **

**Happy reading and reviewing!**

**~Plaid Monster**

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><p>It took him all his years in Hogwarts to realize something: his classmate, his acquaintance- he would almost call her his... <em>friend<em>, though he remained quite hesitant with that unfamiliar word_-_ the one that had been there all his life was just like himself.

Tom Riddle had been unusual from the start, with his secretive yet charming personality and his smooth way of speaking. He was near to being at the top of his class, surrounded by lackeys, and in control of his close-to-perfect life.

But there had always been that one girl who had stood out to him… she had outscored him for almost every exam, out-dueled him during the Defense Against the Dark Arts classes, and overall been similarly talented.

These meetings had started during their fifth year, when the two had acknowledged each other for the first time after a duel. Sometimes the two would share a special moment together, a private moment, when they would share their secrets and discuss them like adults. Tom, of course, rarely exposed his own, but the girl seemed to enjoy his shocked, or angered, or pleased reactions at her most vivid memories, and on those rare occasions, she hung onto his every word when he replied with an equally astounding secret.

There was one quality about himself that Tom was eager to advertise, and that was his ability to speak Parseltongue. "What does that mean, Tom?" "Can you tell me what this means?" "How do you speak it?" "How do you say this in Parseltongue, Tom?" They were always asking him questions, but it did not annoy him; for he prided himself, if anything, for his knack for learning languages, and he boasted at every chance he got.

The pride of being the only one able to speak Parseltongue in the school faded quickly the next time he met with her. Her secret was astounding: "I can talk to snakes," that's what it was, and this time he bore no shocked expression, no bulging, wide eyes. This time her words met silence; _At least he's not disgusted with me,_ she had thought privately, for every single witch or wizard preferred to keep their distance from Parselmouths.

In fact, Tom seemed rather pleased with this fact. He had found a kindred spirit, finally; even among all his other disciples none had felt or been so special to him as she.

They would speak Parseltongue back and forth on lazy days, when they had both completed all their studying and essays (no surprise they finished first) so that no other students or teachers understood them; they had no desire for other magical folk to come to know their secrets.

Tom trusted her now, the likable girl with silky black hair; he had no doubts of giving his opinions and private thoughts and memories away to her; he often thought it might just be those emerald green eyes of hers, glittering like the million-faceted stones in the Slytherin hourglass, or her porcelain skin, pale and perfectly smooth like his own, that eased his many muses out of his mouth. But whenever that theory popped up in his mind, he quelled it, remembering how much she meant to him, all the times they had laughed and talked and reminisced together.

Time passed quickly when they were together, as it does whenever one is enjoying oneself. It was their seventh year before they even realized they had passed the fifth, and now they met each day, sometimes practicing spells, sometimes studying, sometimes talking.

"No, no, no. You can't wave your wand like _that,_Tom," she sighed one day, jokingly pressing her fingertips to her forehead. "Good god, you'll never learn any spells at this rate."

"I don't seem to be compatible with _any _spells at _any _rate," Tom corrected her, reminding her of her daily observations and teasing comments.

That was the first time she gave him a lopsided smile, one that really screamed her name at him, and it made his heart flutter for the first time.

He felt oddly light that evening as he walked the corridors with her back to the common room; he had never felt the feeling before, could not put a name to it; this girl made his insides churn, made his heart soar, and he didn't know what to make of it, for the first time in his life.

She nudged him playfully as they entered the common room, as they removed their Disillusionment charms from themselves. "Someone pull your wand in a knot?" she demanded, her eyes staring into his. "You've been acting all distant this evening."

"N-no. I'm fine," he responded, trying to recover his ordinary, conversational tone that he only used with her. "Just tired, is all."

She eyed him curiously for a moment, letting seconds pass before answering, and he knew that she didn't believe his words. "Hm, if you say so," she teased, turning to head up to her dormitory. Everyone in her year would be asleep by now; the Slytherins seemed bad-ass to all the other students, but really, they had their tame moments.

"Night, Tom," she called over her shoulder as her silhouette faded into the shadows of her dormitory.

Tom watched her go, not wanting her to leave, wondering for a moment if he should call her back. But he didn't. Instead, he just replied with the usual reply, this time a bit more softly: "Good night… Nagini."


	2. The Depths of Hogwarts

**Hey everybody! I apologize for the looong lapse between updates, and promise to update more often now that I have regained my interest in writing (and this story!). I'm still busy with schoolwork and sports, however, so don't expect any updates every other day.**

**Enjoy!~**

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><p>It was a warm, pleasant day, and though the seventh years' exams were fast approaching, most of them were reluctant to study and could be found lounging outside on the Hogwarts grounds. Many students departed the castle that day to go swimming, for the water in the Black Lake was cool and refreshing.<p>

But not a certain pair of pale, dark-haired seventh years. Tom and Nagini had spent the majority of the morning in the Slytherin common room, ignoring the nice weather, discussing their recent experiments and results of those experiments. They wanted to explore something new in one of the bathrooms upstairs, something most believed to be a myth, something no one had ever dared try but Salazar Slytherin himself.

And so it was that the two students began the trek through the castle from the underground common room to the girls' bathroom. It took a brief amount of time, for Tom and Nagini knew their way well around the castle by now. After stepping through many portrait-holes and avoiding several teachers, the pair finally found themselves near the door to the bathroom.

Their path was blocked by Nagini's younger sister. Tom sighed inwardly as he saw her approaching them; Myrtle was annoying and he didn't quite like the fourth year's company as much as her sister's.

"What is it, Myrtle?" Nagini asked irritably; Tom glanced at his companion in surprise: apparently she was less friendly to her sister than he had thought. "We're kind of in the middle of something."

Myrtle batted her long lashes at the boy, displaying her affection for him that she had carried since she'd seen him in her first year. This was one of the many reasons Tom disliked her.

Then she turned to Nagini, less kindly. "Do you know where my notebook has gone, Nagini?" she demanded.

The girl sighed in exasperation. "How long has it been since you purchased that? No, Myrtle, I don't want to hear it," she added as her sister opened her mouth wide to say something. "Mum will be furious with you. That thing was expensive, it was!"

Tom vaguely remembered Myrtle boasting to him about a new leather-bound notebook she had ordered from Diagon Alley.

"Lost something again, Myrtle? Tsk, tsk, what a loser."

The voice giggled and Tom recognized it as one of Nagini's rather bothersome "friends". Nagini had once admitted to him that she had no desire to be anywhere near her, but the girl had no other witch or wizard to call "friend" and Nagini was too nice to send her away.

"Oh, Olive, don't tease her," Nagini said tiredly, fed up with the whole production. "You give her a hard enough time about her glasses as it is. Just leave; Tom and I need to do something by ourselves."

Olive gave her friend a sharp glance, as if she knew just what they were doing, but Tom knew the sixth-year was not smart enough to figure it out in one sentence. "Okay," Olive agreed, pushing Myrtle out of her path with a shoulder as she left the vicinity.

Myrtle frowned, tears filling her eyes. "Nagini! She's mean!"

"I know. Just go away, Myrtle, and stay away from Olive."

"Good riddance," Tom muttered under his breath as he watched the fourth year run off. Nagini heard that last comment and smiled at him, glad to be rid of her sister just as much as he.

"Alright, let's go." Nagini nodded at Tom to allow him to lead the rest of the way. They snuck into the bathroom quietly, praying that McGonagall or Dumbledore would see them.

"There it is," Tom whispered, raising his right hand and pointing his index finger at the sink settled on the opposite side of the room. "That's the one we're looking for."

"How can you know for sure?" Nagini narrowed her eyes, scrutinizing the clean white sink as they walked near it. They halted when they both stood before it.

He leaned forward, inspecting the peculiar tap. It was different from the other sinks- cleaner, for one, but also, there was a strange quality about it. It resonated with a power that drew Tom to it, and that was how he identified it so quickly.

Nagini recognized its aura, as well, but was more wary of it than her companion, whose gaze never left it after they had found it. There was a difference in his green eyes now, one she had never seen there before- a kind of hunger, or thirst, but not for food or drink. Yes, this was a lust for power, strength, and it twisted his normally calm demeanor into a kind of inhuman expression.

He felt her pale eyes on his face, and without acknowledging her he knew his hungry gaze sent chills down her spine. He could feel her shudder slightly beside him. But he was fixated on the tap, and ignored her for a moment.

"How do you think we move this thing out of the way?" he asked her, finally tearing his gaze away from the white object. "It certainly points the way to our destination."

"Well, something in Parseltongue, of course," Nagini stated, as if her words were only repeating the obvious. She turned back to the sink.

"_Open up,_" Nagini breathed at the tap, her words coming out of his mouth in Parseltongue. And this determined that the legends of Salazar's secret chamber were no longer myth: they were fact. As Tom and Nagini stepped back from the sink and their obstacle was removed in front of their eyes, a triumphant feeling arose inside his chest, taking the form of a great beast, roaring and declaring its victory. He could not contain his joy, and his lips curled into one of his uncommon grins. All their research, the time they had taken on this particular project throughout their years, it had paid off; they had succeeded.

"We did it," he said, and he turned to the witch, who was plainly pleased with herself. "You did it!" he corrected himself, one of those rare times when he admitted that it was not himself that deserved credit but his companion. He shook her by the shoulders, grinning widely, and she could not keep herself from grinning too: his glee was contagious. They laughed breathlessly together, and then after catching their breaths turned to the trench in the stone floor before them.

"Ladies first," Nagini demanded, pushing in front of Tom and instantly jumping down the circular hole. Tom peered down the blackness into which his friend had so recklessly jumped. He would be more prudent: "_Lumos,_" he murmured, the tip of his wand immediately lighting up at his voice. He began lowering himself into the hole, and eventually let his grip of the grated floor go.

Cold—he had never known such cold. He barely suppressed a shiver as he slid down the stone tube. By wandlight, all he could see was a slide-like structure made of brick. It was not yet worn by witches or wizards sliding down it, for the only person to have entered here was Salazar Slytherin himself.

Finally Tom saw an opening, a break in the stone. He prepared himself for the landing coming up, and soon by his momentum he was launched forward. He landed gracefully on the balls of his feet, knees slightly bent.

He heard a crunching noise as he landed and looked down. He was rewarded with the view of many tiny bones and skulls on the ground: remnants of tiny animals that had died or been eaten here. Averting his eyes, Tom brushed the dust off his black cloak and moved on, Nagini following him, their wands illuminating the path ahead.

It was a long hike to their final obstacle. When they reached the rock wall, Tom knew the metal door was not going to be opened by physical force or by magic. Somehow he knew that Parseltongue would work on it.

"_Open up_," he said again, this time with more confidence as he knew it would work. Silvery metal snakes slid one by one back from one end of the door to the other, allowing the hatch's door to swing forward, rusted hinges protesting creakily. Nagini boldly stepped forward and began climbing down a metal ladder that awaited them behind the door.

They didn't know what they'd find down there, and Tom wasn't taking any chances—not with his best friend and companion around, that is. He diminished the light so it would be easier to defend himself and Nagini before setting foot on the first rusted rung of the ladder.

"Ugh," the black-haired girl commented once they'd gotten a good look at the chamber they now stood in. "What a mess."

The water was a filthy dark green color, lichen and moss springing up on the stone that was surrounded by the dark liquid. The once magnificent marble statues of snakes and Salazar Slytherin's face had been tainted by the dirty water bathing it, and were now a rough, dark gray stone.

"Yes," Tom agreed, taking in his surroundings quickly. He nodded. "Yes, this place is in bad shape. We're going to have to fix it."

As the green-eyed boy gazed around, Nagini recognized the same hungry expression she had seen upstairs by the tap. Despite the warmth rising off the water, she felt an involuntary shudder run down her back.

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><p><strong>Whew-almost five pages in Word! Thank god that's over, but I did enjoy writing it. It's a nice change. Anyways, I hope I can finish and post the next chapter soon! Review and critique, but don't flame. 3<strong>

**-Plaid Monster**


	3. First in Line

**Hey guys-sorry I've been neglecting this fic so badly, and sorry the update is so short. D: I've just kind of lost interest. But I started it, so I'll finish it. This'll probably be a few more chapters (like four?) so enjoy while it lasts!**

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><p>Tom knew it was late before he even checked out the window. He heard no movement or conversation outside the bathroom, so it was obviously far past curfew—usually there were a few students sneaking around after lights out, but only for an hour or so. He knew they'd have to sneak back to the common room, and he sighed inwardly at the thought; he wasn't looking forward to it.<p>

Their first time in the Chamber had been a long and grueling process. First they'd explored the area, keeping in mind all the dirty places in need of cleaning, leaving no area hidden to them, eventually memorizing their way around the place.

Next they cleaned for hours. Even with their magic, the Chamber was enormous, and they needed to clean out every nook, every crevice that required them to do so (which meant basically the entire place).

The ordeal had left them tired and sore, a less exciting experience than they had been hoping for in their first time in the Chamber; but now that the cleaning was over, they could start using it to cleanse the rest of the school from evil.

Nagini sighed loudly. "Great, now we have to go all the way back underground…"

Tom gave her a half-smile to attempt to comfort her. "I'm not exactly excited either. Come on, let's go."

As they made their way back down to the bowels of the castle, they whispered about their latest adventure. Tom was eager to return to the Chamber, while Nagini wished to take a few days off. Her wrists still hurt from all the wand-waving she'd done when cleaning that day. Begrudgingly, Tom had to agree, for his hands too were sore.

He tried not to look at Nagini throughout the conversation. For some odd reason, he felt a strange sensation rising in him whenever he met her even gaze. It was warm, and melted his insides. He didn't understand it.

By the time they were back inside the common room, Tom wanted to collapse from the tiredness in his legs. He avoided Nagini's eyes as he muttered "good night" and rushed to the boys' dormitory.

He dreamed that night.

He was sneaking through the halls of Hogwarts and ended up in the Chamber of Secrets. A great emerald green snake waited for him, its eyes glittering not yellow or red or amber but an oddly familiar shade of gray-green.

The serpent was mesmerizing. Each movement of its body cast glittering lights around the cavern. Tom looked into its eyes and knew he'd seen them before; he just could not place them. And he could not look away from them.

The snake hissed at his eye contact and darted forward, its fangs piercing Tom's skin. He fell to the ground, but otherwise did not move. It struck again, and again, until his blood turned the wet stones red. He could not move; the fascinating green eyes held him frozen in place.

Its red tongue flickered out and its jaws widened, revealing long, sharp fangs, the tips red from his own blood. It attacked him for the last time, and Tom's eyes flew open.

He was in his silver and green four-poster bed in the dormitory. Tom breathed a deep sigh of relief and sank into his mattress.

His neck prickled when he remembered the eyes. They were Nagini's.

.

At breakfast that morning Tom made his way down to the great hall alone. He could not face Nagini, not with the nagging feeling in his chest whenever he made eye contact with her.

His breath caught when he heard someone sit next to him. He would know her smell, the sound of her movements, anywhere.

He corrected his earlier thought; now the nagging feeling occurred even when she simply looked at him. And he knew when she looked at him: he could feel her gaze heavy upon him, and he could not speak or move or breathe or think. He didn't understand what was wrong with him.

"Morning," came her cheerful greeting. Her voice was warm as it always was when she talked to him.

Tom chastised himself mentally. He was acting foolishly. He cleared his throat, took a sip of pumpkin juice, and forced out, "Morning, Nagini." He looked at her face and—

Nope. He shifted his gaze quickly back down to his breakfast. Damn! Still couldn't look into her eyes.

What the hell was going on with him?

The next day, the two of them opened the Chamber of Secrets. Nagini wondered aloud what kind of changes would take place in Hogwarts; Tom stayed uncomfortably silent. He had read up on the Chamber recently, and uncovered some astonishing new information about the Chamber's cleasing routines. He wouldn't tell Nagini. Hopefully she wouldn't be too surprised when mudbloods started dying all over the school.

.

Tom did not look forward to today. He had double Transfiguration, and Nagini was in his classes as well. Normally that would be a plus, but not today, not now. He felt weak-willed whenever she was around.

"I hate this stupid essay," Tom had complained earlier as he and his friend had worked on their Potions homework.

"Yeah, me too," Nagini agreed. "I think I need a book from the library, but I really don't want to go that far for it."

"I do too," Tom said, although he really didn't need anything other than a quill, ink and parchment. "I can get it for you, if you want."

"Really?" Nagini had brightened considerably. "Thanks!"

Several staircases, portraits and corridors later, Tom had returned to the Slytherin common room panting and lugging the thousand-page book Nagini had requested. He was about to fume at her for not telling him how heavy the thing was, but when he looked up into her face, she smiled at him, her green eyes glowing. His words caught in his throat, and all he could say was "Here it is."

Later that same night, they were still scribbling furiously on their papers, the last ones remaining in the room. Tom realized that he did, after all, need the book Nagini had required earlier. He opened it up to the page he needed, but not five minutes later she tapped him on the shoulder with a pleading expression.

"I really need that... are you almost done with it?" she'd asked. "I can't finish my essay without it."

"Uh, I..." For some reason, Tom couldn't tell her no. "Yeah, go ahead," he said finally, sliding the book over to her. Her smile wiped away the anger he harbored for her for doing this to him, and he couldn't think about anything but the way her eyes lit up when she smiled. He caught himself staring and looked back at his parchment. It seemed so trivial now... what had he been writing about again?

The next day, Tom had been unable to turn his essay in due to incompletion. Slughorn had been upset that his top student hadn't done the homework.

As he carted his heavy textbooks and notebooks to Transfiguration, Tom knew this nonsense would have to stop. He should take a break from talking to Nagini; maybe that would make everything better. He couldn't just let her walk all over him just because he got tongue-tied every time he looked into her sparkling emerald eyes, the ones that went so well with her smooth pale skin, and her ebony hair—

Tom grimaced; he had passed the classroom. He backtracked and entered the Transfiguration room. The professor gave him a severe look: he was late, thanks to those thoughts of Nagini.

Speaking of the devil, the witch was sitting placidly at their table, a blank piece of parchment and quill in front of her. She waved at him, and he had an overwhelming urge to touch her, to be near her. He veered away and sat beside a fellow Slytherin boy instead. He tried not to look at her throughout the first period, but once he sneaked a glance. The corners of her mouth were pulled down as she jotted down quick notes from the teacher's lecture. His mind was buzzing the entire class, and he heard snippets of the class discussion once in a while, but he couldn't focus and instead found himself staring at the chalkboard at the front of the class most of the time.

Once class was over, Tom hurried out of the class, stuffing papers and books into his satchel as quickly as possible. He decided to take one of the passages he and Nagini rarely used to avoid her.

He stepped into a portrait and was halfway down the empty corridor when he saw a shadow around the corner. Tom looked around curiously to see who it was and pulled back immediately, but it was too late; she had seen him.

"Get over here!" she demanded. Her voice was level, as it usually was, but a note of impatience in it. She would find him eventually. Sighing Tom rounded the corner and stopped several feet away from her.

"How did you know which way I would go?" he asked her, his tone a bit disappointed that she had found him so easily.

Nagini rolled her eyes. "Come on, give me some credit, Tom," she snapped. He was taken aback; she was not usually so sharp in her words. "I've known you for six years. I know that when you want to avoid someone, namely me, you go places you don't normally go, and don't even say you're not trying to avoid me, because I know you are." She narrowed her eyes. "What's up with you? Ever since we found the Chamber of Secrets, you've been distant and awkward whenever I talk to you, but you seem perfectly normal around other people!"

"I..." His voice broke. He didn't know what to say, as always when around her.

Nagini took a few steps in his direction. "Well?" She glared at him.

Tom felt the strange feeling roar to life in his chest again, and he didn't think he could take it anymore. It was almost painful every time he looked at her face, into her eyes. He seized her face in his hands and pressed his lips against hers briefly in search of relief from the sensation; instead, he felt emptier than before, and ended up just wanting more of her. The contact did nothing to quell his hunger; instead it encouraged it, made him want as much of _Nagini _as possible. So he leaned in again, fastening his lips on hers. He felt her jump in shock at the sudden movement, and wished she would kiss him back. Maybe that would make it better. And finally, after his hopes of relief were fading and his grip on her was loosening, she did kiss him back, and the most wonderful feeling overcame him. He'd never felt this way before. Tom felt her press against him, her hands curled against his chest, and he felt satisfaction at last.

.

Myrtle ran into the bathroom, crying. She wiped at her cheeks as she slammed the stall door behind her and threw her glasses on the white tiles beneath her feet. Olive Hornby was being a prat again and had taken a step too far by breaking the fourth year's glasses.

The bathroom door opened again. "Go away, Olive!" Myrtle sobbed. The door did not close. Myrtle threw hers open. "I said go aw—"

Red eyes. Ice. Suffocation. Darkness.


	4. Revelation

**Hey readers! Thanks for sticking with this story-I know the updates aren't exactly frequent, but I've been super busy. Anyways, enough with the excuses. I apologize for the last chapter seeming kind of like a filler chapter, but I hope this one will be more exciting. Read, enjoy and review, please!**

**~Plaid Monster**

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><p>It was easy, now, for Tom to be around Nagini. Just last week he had been avoiding her at all costs, but now he felt the need to be by her side at all times. He supposed the kiss had changed the awkwardness he'd previously felt towards her, because now he could lean over and satisfy his wishes at any time; he no longer felt uncomfortable around her or when their eyes met.<p>

He was pleased that she felt the same way about him as well. He guessed he would have felt quite miserable for ruining their friendship with the kiss, but since Nagini had returned it, he was content. He stole glances at her during classes often, and she certainly seemed fairly satisfied as well.

Not everything was perfect, however; homework abounded each day, and Myrtle still bothered them any chance she got, including asking them about that damn leather journal. Nagini was so fed up with her younger sister that one day she searched for the lost notebook until she found it.

He'd so far received no communication from the basilisk, so he assumed it had not found its first target as of yet, but he hoped the cleansing would begin soon. Just the other day, during a trip to Hogsmeade, a Hufflepuff mudblood had approached him asking for a few extra coins. Disgusted, Tom had declined, despite the fact that his heavy wallet weighed his pocket down. Never would he purposely interact with those filthy excuses for wizards. And never would he donate money to them.

He had always harbored a kind of hatred for mudbloods. Perhaps it had originated from the fact that his mother, a pureblooded, kind hearted witch, had broken off from the rest of her family because of some stupid muggle man. He was ashamed to call himself a half-blood because of it.

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><p>He writhed in his sleep that night. Dreams haunted him.<p>

He stood in the Chamber of Secrets, against a wall. In the main part of the Chamber, a great fight was taking place between two large, silvery-green creatures. Tom approached the two serpents for a closer look.

One was a small, slender snake, with darker scales. Tom started when he recognized the green eyes—it was the reptile that had represented Nagini in his other dream.

The other creature was significantly larger, with dirty gray-green scales and vicious front fangs. Tom understood it must be the basilisk; that was the only other huge serpent he knew of.

Tom glanced sharply down at the wet stone beneath the basilisk. To his astonishment, a girl's body lay limp there, her black cloak soaked by the water that covered the ground. He stepped closer to the body and knelt beside her. She was not breathing. He reached a tentative hand out to her shoulder and turned her body over—

He scrambled backwards with a horrified gasp. It was not the girl's face that scared him, or the fact that it was she, and no other mudblood, that lay there. It was the fact that Myrtle was Nagini's sister, which meant they both were mudbloods, a fact that Tom had never bothered to familiarize himself with.

He gazed upwards at the two battling serpents once more, this time more fearfully because the larger snake, the basilisk, was winning; it struck three times at Nagini's throat, ripping her slippery scales and causing blood to flow down her long rope of a body.

Nagini collapsed to the ground. "No!" Tom emitted a strangled cry, but it was too late, for the basilisk had attacked again and just as its fangs met Nagini's throat the smaller snake turned its eyes on him. They were filled with pain, but not of the physical kind; more like that of betrayal. He watched as the light of life left its emerald eyes and the body went limp.

Then came the worst part of the dream.

The basilisk rotated and slithered forward until it was nearly touching Tom's feet. He jumped up and whipped his wand out, intent on taking its life, but what happened next was so unexpected, so different than the attack he had assumed was coming that he could only watch. The serpent's head lowered until its flat face touched the ground, its eyes rising to meet Tom's. Respect glimmered in the horrible red eyes. As if Tom had been in complete control the entire time.

He and Nagini had promised to share control of the Chamber, to share the credit of opening it, but when the basilisk's eyes met his, he knew there was no chance of Nagini ever possessing any sort of power over Salazar Slytherin's most powerful weapon.

Tom jolted awake for the second time that month. As he regained consciousness, he felt his forehead and realized he was burning. Beads of sweat rolled down his face and his palms were clammy.

A voice whispered into his mind suddenly. _Myrtle, _it hissed.

_First in line._

He had to know that it was true. He rolled out of his four-poster bed, trying not to rustle the green covers too much. His feet slipped into his slippers, but that wouldn't do. He quietly changed into his jeans and a dark green t-shirt and normal shoes, then after snatching his wand from his bedside table he crept out of the dormitory and the common room and into the corridor.

It took him about ten minutes to find the bathroom under which the Chamber lay, what with all his secret passages and shortcuts assisting his journey. He did not know where Myrtle's body would be, or if she was a ghost, but the Chamber was a good place to start, he assumed.

He tiptoed into the bathroom, hoping no girls were in there, because now he had no Nagini with him.

He had just opened his mouth to utter the words that would open up the Chamber when he heard a sniff behind him.

He whipped around on his heels and scrutinized the stall from which the noise had originated. "Who's there?" he demanded.

"Tom?" exclaimed a familiar voice. Tom almost breathed a small sigh of relief. Maybe Nagini wasn't a mudblood. Maybe—

A pale, unearthly form of Myrtle had emerged cautiously from the stall, her small eyes wide with disbelief.

"_Tom!_" she cried. "It is you!" Her ghost soared towards him. He stumbled backwards, colliding with the white sink, trying to distance himself from her.

This couldn't be happening!

Nagini's sister was dead, killed by the basilisk; Tom's nightmare had been true! Nagini would be next!

He had to keep her from dying as long as possible, and from finding out about Myrtle's demise. Any proof must be obliterated. He looked around wildly and saw Myrtle's bag.

"_Reducto!_" he panted, aiming at the bag. It exploded and ended up as a pile of soot.

Before Myrtle could say anything, Tom sprinted away from the bathroom as fast as he could. Nagini must never go down there, must never find out about her sister.

He must find a way to close the Chamber before she met the same fate as Myrtle.

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><p>It was during his potions class period that he got the chance to erase any other evidence of Myrtle's odd death. Slughorn sent him to deliver a huge stack of papers to the headmaster, but instead Tom returned to the Slytherin common room. He set the papers on a desk in the middle of the room and entered the girls' dormitory—he had devised a way to get up there long ago without having to deal with the slide that transported normal boys back down to the common room.<p>

He rifled through all of Myrtle's belongings, careful not to misplace anything so as not to arouse any sort of suspicion, when he saw the dark red leather notebook Myrtle was always bragging about. He snatched it up and looked through the pages.

_I wish Tom would notice me. Sometimes I feel like he likes Nagini more than me. It's not fair. Just because she is his age doesn't mean she belongs with him. He's mine!_

Rolling his eyes, Tom skipped a few pages until he found a more interesting entry.

_Nagini doesn't like me at all. She's almost as snappish with me as that mean girl Olive Hornby sometimes. I wonder if she's jealous of mine and Tom's relationship. That's probably it. But I wish she would stop sneaking around with him all the time. It's like they're up to something that's so important that I can't know what it is. Ugh. She thinks she's better than everyone else…_

Furrowing his eyebrows, Tom's eyes flicked to the next page. Myrtle was more observant than he'd first imagined.

_I'm scared. I wish Nagini would talk to me. I hear this weird hissing noise all around me when I walk through Hogwarts by myself, and I always feel like someone's watching me. It's a really horrible sensation that never goes away. It's especially strong when I'm in the bathroom, which freaks me out. When I sleep I dream of red-eyed snakes. I want to go home._

That was the end of the entry. He ruffled through the rest of the book, but it was empty. He guessed that last one had been written right before the basilisk had found her.

He stuffed the leather book into his bag. He would erase the journal's contents later. For now, he had papers to deliver and suspicion to avoid.

That night in bed, Tom ran through a list of possible suspects in his mind. He needed someone to accuse for the opening of the Chamber and the killing of mudbloods, because that would direct the blame away from him and would close the Chamber, keeping Nagini alive.

Who would have a reason for unleashing a beast onto students? What kind of witch or wizard had access to dangerous creatures?

An answer came to him immediately. One of the Gryffindor students came to mind, a brute by the name of Hagrid. He was known to be fond of animals, and Tom had once seen him in the Forbidden Forest with some hairy, large creature. That boy would be a perfect victim.

Now all he needed to do was find a time when Hagrid was with his beast, and the Chamber would be closed, and Nagini would be safe.

* * *

><p>They sat on an emerald green couch in the Room of Requirement, side by side. Their transfiguration homework lay on the wooden table in front of them in a heap, incomplete.<p>

"You haven't seen Myrtle around, have you, Tom?" she inquired. "I haven't been able to find her lately."

"Shouldn't you be relieved?" Tom said, trying to change the subject. "After all, she just adds to the stress of the upcoming exams."

"How do you think you'll do on the potions exam?" Nagini asked him quietly as he set his quill down beside its bottle of ink.

"I don't know." Tom yawned, and then glanced at her out of the corner of his eyes. "I'll probably do fine, not that I've been studying much lately."

"Why not?"

He turned to face her fully. "Isn't it obvious? I have been thinking of you a lot. Whenever I try to study, I think of you and forget whatever I was previously doing."

She laughed. "You are so full of bullshit, Tom."

"I know," he chuckled, touching his lips to hers. Her open mouth moved on his, her tongue flickering against his own. She climbed onto his lap, knocking his satchel off the couch in the process, and gripped his face with her hands, not breaking the kiss the whole time. He put his hands on her waist gently, her breathing fast in his mouth and on his face. His lips left hers to explore her exposed neck, kissing her sensitive spot below her jaw. She let out a breathy, low moan full of desire.

He almost stopped mouthing her neck as he sensed her thin fingers on her own shirt. Usually they rested against his chest, or grabbed at the fabric of his clothing; instead, they worked at the buttons on her white shirt.

"Are you sure about this?" he breathed on her cheek as she moved on to the next button.

"Yes." Her voice was soft but confident, a whisper of air against his skin.

His mouth returned to her soft skin moments before she froze. He looked up at her, confused. Hadn't she just confirmed what she'd wanted to do?

He realized she was no longer looking at him but rather at his bag on the floor. A leather notebook was protruding from inside it. Nagini reached down and snatched the journal up, rifling through the blank pages.

She jumped off his lap and threw the notebook on the floor. "What is this?" she demanded. "Why do you have this?"

Tom cursed himself mentally. He knew he should have removed Myrtle's entries and thrown the journal away sooner.

"A… notebook?"

Nagini's eyes narrowed dangerously. "That's not just any notebook. That's my _sister's _notebook, Tom!" she shouted, pointing a finger at the book.

"I found it in—"

"Bullshit!" she yelled. "You didn't _find _it anywhere. You were looking through her stuff, weren't you? That's just not normal!" Her brilliant green eyes flashed to the open notebook again. "And you wanted it for a reason, didn't you?"

"I…" Once again, Tom was at a loss for words. Just moments ago, they had been kissing, and now they were arguing?

She read aloud the last entry, then said, "She dreamed of red-eyed snakes. She heard hissing noises in the school. She felt like she was being followed, especially in the bathroom." She made a connection when she said the last sentence, her eyes widening in shock. "The bathroom. As in the bathroom above the Chamber of Secrets…" She hit her forehead in exasperation. "Of course! I can't find her because something happened to her involving the Chamber!"

She turned on him then, her expression cold. "You know what happened to her, don't you?" she said, eerily calm. "What are you hiding from me, Tom?"


End file.
